Effective Striking is judged by determining the impact or damage of legal strikes landed by a contestant solely based on the results of such legal strikes.​

but it also says:

Judges should be looking for multiple blows that diminish the fighter or grappling maneuvers that place the fighter in dominant situations with damage being inflicted that is visibly diminishing the losing fighter’s ability to compete.​

Nate wasn't rocked by those punches, but added up he was certainly "visibly diminished".

here's the problem with that last bit though. if Conor knocks Nate down once per round, there's little way to add them up using the 10 point must system. whereas one good stankly leg could easily lead to a 10-8 (not by itself, but with follow up).

Nate was definitely hurt by some of those knockdowns. In boxing knockdowns are scored way higher than rocking someone on the feet. It's very hard to tell with some guys if they are rocked. Nate has great composure.

Every thing that happens in a fight is individual; hard and fast rules make scoring worse, not better. A good judge has seen thousands of fights and through that experience, has the context necessary to score fights correctly.